Abstract [en]

This thesis aims to explore how illustrative storytelling can challenge the western stigma of Arab women in areas of conflict. This exploration will be done through an analysis on the history and the current visualization of Arab women in the west and a series of illustrations I will be creating that propose a narrative opposing this visualization. My study will show how the visual references used for my research have had a major effect in shaping the image of the Arab women in the west. The aim of this project is to use the same characteristics that fall under the stereotypical visualizations of Arab women to challenge the stigma of classifying these women as; the terrorist, the exotic, and/or the oppressed. The purpose of my project is to create a change in the way the western audience perceives Arab women in areas of conflict. I will therefore analyze in this essay how western media and art have shaped the collective view the west has on Arab women. Furthermore, the essay will explain how storytelling proposes a rejection to the static depiction of Arab women in western media and introduces instead an element of an evolving story. This project proposes a sustainable way of looking at gender and conflict in the Arab world provoking questions around the visualization of these women and creating discussions about the accuracy of the perception the west has created. This in turn re-contextualizes the visualization of the identity of Arab women in the west with the aim of breaking the objectification these women.